Freudian Instincts
by Kessie-Louise
Summary: There's a mandatory meeting at Giro Express today, and everyone's there. During the meeting though, Juno (OC) spaces off when she sees Girouette kiss the tip of his pen. The helpless, hormonal teen doesn't stand a chance. [AU][Side story to Guided by the Wind/Giro and Juno]


August 3, 2175: Full company meeting day at Giro Express.

Ceres was a fairly new employee of the delivery service, and about two years older than Juno. This was going to be her first meeting- it would be the first time she would see a lot of the other faces around Giro Express too. The only faces that seemed consistent were Juno's, Girouette himself, some illegal Reploid named Sho, and some five year old kid who got in more folk's way than in helping them. Ceres only knew Juno well though, so the duo were as you would expect from a typical set of teenage girls.

"I can't believe you know this place so well..." Ceres said to Juno as they walked to the meeting room. "I think I got lost my first day."

"Oh, I've been here since I was five, this place is nothing more than a linear hallway for me." Juno boasted with a playful shrug.

"Really?" Ceres marveled just as they entered the meeting room. The room itself was one of the larger ones, but only had enough room for a rectangle table that could have held twelve persons on one side. The table wasn't very wide, though, as it seemed to only have room to seat one person at each end comfortably. Girouette was already there- sitting at the head of the table as he waited for everyone else to arrive. Meanwhile Juno and Ceres found spots about six chairs down from him.

"How long do these meetings usually last?" Ceres whispered to Juno as other employees started to sit around the table.

"An hour or so." Juno informed her friend with a shrug. "It really depends on how complicated everyone else makes it."

"Really?" Ceres questioned with a bit of surprise. Juno nodded as she gave a wave over to Sho, who took up the right hand seat next to Giro. The Reploid didn't seem to notice Juno though, so she put her hand down and turned her attention back to Ceres.

"The first 45 minutes are spent going over rules, regulations, and emergency procedures. Nothing too long or complicated- I think I have most of it memorized and could recite them in my sleep. But it's the Q&A that goes on forever. 'Do we have a curfew?' 'Do I have to pay rent if I stay in the dorms?' 'What _is_ your staff turnover rate?' And then you've got the smart alecks who are all 'How is this place self sustaining if it's operated by a Reploid?' or 'I hear you're fucking that human girl over there, is it true?' Urg, I hate those kinds of people. And Reploids. Usually it's the humans though."

"Oh." Ceres blinked. "You are Girouette are…?"

"No." Juno immediately debunked. "No we're not. He just sees me as a little girl. Nothing more, nothing less."

"But you don't feel that way… do you?"

Slowly, Juno cheeks started to become a faint pink color. "I… have some… issues." the human slowly started to admit. "Giro's more or less a bystander in them, but I… I kinda wish he was _in_ them. Y-you know?"

Ceres didn't quite understand, but she nodded her head regardless.

"I believe everyone is here now." Girouette then spoke up, gaining everyone's attention. "It is now time to start the meeting. If I could have everyone's attention now."

At his request, the room feel into a hush. With not so much a stare, everyone's attention had been turned to Girouette in complete awareness. Passing his look to everyone in the room, the Reploid had swayed enough of them that it felt as if a spell had been cast, disallowing anyone from talking- or even breathing for that matter. Juno looked down at her notebook and opened it to an empty page so she cold take notes.

First note: never look at Giro when he tries to hypnotize a crowd. If Giro tell you to jump, you ask how high. If Giro wants you to run laps until you're blue, you run laps until you die of exhaustion. And if, for some reason, Giro requests you take off your clothes, you'd be damned if they weren't already scattered to the wind. No exceptions.

. . .

It was debatable if anyone was even listening to the Reploid thirty minutes into the meeting. Those who had brought notebook paper were doodling, others feigned attention by nodding when it seemed like Girouette was telling them something important.

"Now that that's out of the way," the Reploid then went on after discussing some first aid treatments in case of a toxic substance breach, "What was next?"

As he looked over the memos for the meeting, Giro placed the tip of his pen in his mouth. Tapping the pen against his lips absently, Juno happened to notice what he was doing while looking up from her own notes. Immediately, the action reminded the human of something far less tame, and she started to drift off into imagining things about her friend that would have made a more chaste person blush.

Juno must have stared at Girouette for too long, thinking of much more scandalous things, as she soon lost balance in her chair- causing her to nearly fall over.

"Juno!" Ceres immediately proclaimed as she tried to prevent the human from falling. The two in their debacle ended up creating a bigger fuss than what it was worth, earning everyone at the meeting to look at them. Giro looked at the girls in his own attempt to figure out what had happened- all he could find was Ceres's worried face on Juno's condition, and Juno looking completely flustered over something.

"Are you two alright over there?" Girouette then wondered, raising his generally calm voice at them.

Ceres was the first to look back over at Girouette and shrunk a little at his demeanor. "She fainted," the girl claimed, "I think… She… she seems alright now."

Girouette arched an eyebrow as Juno tried to recompose herself. He was quick to notice that she was refusing to look at him, and her face was almost completely red from embarrassment.

"I spaced out." she finally admitted in a quiet voice. "Sorry..."

"Miss Persica, we are in the middle of a mandatory meeting." Girouette informed her, a slight feeling of anger hinting in his voice. "You of all people understand how important these meetings are. If you can not conduct yourself here, then I suggest you leave. Do you understand?"

Sheepishly, and still heavily embarrassed, Juno nodded her head and went silent.

"Now then," Girouette then announced to the rest of the room, "Back with our meeting then? Let's see… ah yes, that brings me to a reminder of the warehouse shower room; the showers are provided in case of an emergency or a quick relaxer after your shift is over, _not_ for making out. Anyone caught exercising their Freudian instincts inside the shower room will be fired upon discovery. This notice _includes_ Reploids, not just humans. No exceptions."

Juno spent the rest of the meeting slumped in her chair and refusing to look at anyone. Ceres offered her support by rubbing Juno's back. When the meeting was officially over, Juno was the first out the door not a second after Girouette had proclaimed, "Thank you all for your patience and understanding. Refreshments will be served in the kitchen, this month we have rooibos tea and curry in the offering. Please get at it before the younger set do, I hear they're really hungry this time of day."

The human made a beeline for her bedroom and shut the door behind her. Pacing frantically, Juno realized that she was bothered enough that she needed something of hers from Giro's room, and then she cursed herself.

Not long after, she got a knock on her door. Not thinking of who it could be, Juno felt such a rush of emotion when she saw Girouette standing there that she wasn't sure if she was going to faint or kiss him. The Reploid took his time coming into her room without permission, and shut the door behind him- locking them both from the outside world.

" _Are_ you alright?" Giro soon asked her, looking as stern as he was concerned.

"Yeah, totally." Juno immediately brushed off. "I'm, like, sixteen. I'm thinking about a lot of stuff that could make me space out, it's fine. It's good. There's nothing you need to be worried ab- _can you stop looking at me like that_?!"

But Girouette was not giving up quite yet. He could take several guesses at what was going on, and one of those guesses was one he was not fond of. Juno must have realized this as well as her face started to flush red again.

"Juno," Giro then sighed, about to place a hand on her shoulder before retracting it, "Is this about your classes?"

At first, the human didn't answer. The corner of her mouth twitched in an attempt to say something, but it remained closed. She had a list of things to tell him at the moment, never doubt it, but she knew that it wasn't going to go any where. Not now at least, not when he still saw her as that little girl he rescued so long ago…

Little did she know that Giro considered her as something much more important. She was something so important to him that it was the reason why he had been completely supportive of her decision to study abroad. He wanted her to grow, even more than what she was now, so she had to go. Words couldn't even begin to describe the conflict it caused between them, especially when there were other issues that neither were quite addressing at the time.

"Juno..." Girouette then sighed as he sat down on her bed, to which Juno took cue and sat down beside him. "I know there's been a lot of changes for you recently. Growing up, taking classes for your photography skills, high libidos when you are due… I can't imagine what you must go through on a normal day anymore, all that stress on your body."

Giro then turned to look Juno in the eye, and for a moment both of them forgot how to breathe. Time passed by them as they slowly started to linger closer to each other. But something felt off, they could both feel it, as if something was telling them that it wasn't time yet. It was Giro who retracted first.

"I remember when I first saw you," he then remarked, with hands in his lap and eyes trained up at the ceiling. "That Maverick left you for dead, thinking of keeping you as a trophy or something. You were comatose for a week. I bet you don't even remember that, do you?"

Juno snickered a bit as she flopped backward on her bed. "I know that I can't tolerate strobe lights without looking like a deer in headlights." she remarked. "Does that count?"

"More or less." Giro agreed with a small chuckle. But it soon faded as the Reploid then went back to his story. "There was a day after you woke when I was giving you a bath (as seeing you seriously needed one and you wouldn't even let Muguet touch you), and it was when I was brushing your hair out later that you fall asleep on me without warning. It was the first time you ever looked peaceful since waking..."

Juno raised an eyebrow as she took a look at Girouette as his face detailed how much that memory meant to him. In a small ping of realization and mild shock, it came to her thoughts that maybe he saw her the same way she saw him. But… that wasn't possible… Was it?

"And then I told you," Giro then went on, even closing his eyes at the memory, "I said 'Don't worry little iris, you'll bloom again' and gave you a small kiss on the forehead."

Juno sat up again, this time giving Giro a rather confused look of bewilderment. Where was he going with this?

Slowly, Girouette opened his eyes again and looked at Juno with rather sad eyes. "I'm sorry my sweet iris," he then said to her, almost in a whisper as he leaned forward, "But you have to bloom without me." And with that, he placed a kiss on her forehead, sending shivers down Juno's spine in reaction. As he carefully pulled away, Girouette did not look Juno in the eye as he took his leave, softly shutting the door behind him. No longer tense, but no less confused, Juno flopped backward on her bed again to utter a single, "Fuck."


End file.
